New York Hack

Ever wonder what it's like to be a New York City cab driver? This lady's blog will tell you about her grueling, 12-hour night shifts, illustrated with lots of digital pics of New York traffic.

Another Lie Exposed

...with deadly consequences. Three days after Hurricane Katrina hit, Bush claimed that the government had no way to foresee the damage it would cause. "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." Oh yeah? We were told months ago about "Hurricane Pam," a fictional Category 3 storm used in a series of FEMA disaster-preparedness exercises simulating the effects of a major hurricane striking New Orleans. "Pam" predicted almost everything that happened in New Orleans and Mississippi at least a year before it happened.

Now the Washington Post reports that

In the 48 hours before Hurricane Katrina hit, the White House received detailed warnings about the storm's likely impact, including eerily prescient predictions of breached levees, massive flooding, and major losses of life and property...

The Department of Homeland Security's National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center (NISAC) document predicted losses in the tens of billions of dollars.

In addition to the NISAC document, WaPo obtained a FEMA slide presentation that was prepared for a meeting two days before Katrina hit. They compared the potential damage to the simulated disaster of "Hurricane Pam", but said it could be even worse.

It's horrible that so many government employees, who were doing the job they were hired to do, tried in vain to warn those in charge about the impending disaster, and all their warnings were totally ignored. Then we had to endure the lies, the spin, the finger-pointing and shifting of blame to someone else. As the facts which contradicted the government's position began to emerge, and the horrors of the Superdome played out on television for the world to see, the truth became obvious, and Bush was forced to accept the blame. I don't even recall an apology. I really don't think there was one.

How much more incompetence do we have to endure? The only glimmer of hope I see is that the Bush administration will go down as the worst in the history of this country and will become a model of what to avoid in the future. If we don't go over the brink before that can happen.

Watch Old Faithful Blow

Yellowstone National Park has a Web cam set up for the Old Faithful geyser.

The Camel Toe Report

After 17 days without blogging, I thought it would be appropriate to post an edifying entry, something to appeal to the intellect. For this purpose I've chosen The Camel Toe Report. The emphasis is on the female toe, modeled here by Sharon Stone...



But there is no dearth of male toe and moose knuckles. You would never see a Hollywood celebrity today in a Speedo and flippers. Kind of ruins the Bogart mystique, doesn't it?



The commentary that accompanies the photos had me laughing so hard, I almost lost a lung.

Happy Birthday, Edgar Allan Poe!

For the 57th straight year, a mystery man paid tribute to Edgar Allan Poe by placing roses and a bottle of cognac on the writer's grave to mark his birthday.

The 2005 Sour Orange Awards

Two writers for the St. Petersburg Times have "scoured newspapers, magazines and the Internet for all the futile, inane and moronic news stories in Florida." There's never a shortage of craziness in this state. Here are the winners.

The Abramoff Connection

Jack Abramoff, American lawyer and lobbyist, and close personal friend of Tom DeLay, is apparently involved in so many political scandals and investigations of scandals that the mind boggles trying to follow it all. This Daily Kos entry on Saturday is a good place to start, with quotes and links throughout.

...the GOP will be covered with an avalanche of scandals.

We might take control of Congress because so many in the GOP will suddenly need to "spend more time with their families".

They are in BIG trouble. It couldn't happen to a better set of scoundrels.

[snip]

Any dollar Jack touched leads to another scandal. Grab a thread and start pulling.